The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), in partnership with the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council (CIRCAC) produced the Cook Inlet Pipeline Project Report in September 2019.
Project Goal and Scope
The goal of the project is to ensure the continued safe operation of the Cook Inlet oil and gas pipeline infrastructure by anticipating problems in this aging infrastructure, and recommending and implementing risk reduction measures before further loss of integrity events occur.
The scope of the project includes the following types of pipelines within the Cook Inlet, Alaska region:
- Pipelines transporting crude oil, three-phase fluids (oil/water/gas), or natural gas, where the gas lines are directly related to oil production activities
- Abandoned pipelines
Expert Panel Role
The project goal will be accomplished with the assistance of an expert panel. The panel will consider causal factors of past loss of integrity events, leading indicators of future events, and current integrity management practices. The objective of the Expert Panel process is to develop consensus recommendations on appropriate risk reduction measures. Recommendations may include, but are not limited to, operational best practices, additional investigation, regulatory changes, information gathering, and infrastructure changes.
The panel will interact with pipeline operators, regulators, and the public before developing comprehensive recommendations aimed at extending the life of the Cook Inlet oil and gas production pipeline infrastructure.
An inventory, compilation of information on reported spills resulting from loss of integrity events, and regulatory overview of Cook Inlet pipelines will be presented to the Expert Panel to establish the common causes, frequencies, and trends of failures in this aging infrastructure.
